It does seem a bit of a stitch up for the Russian clubs, they should be rewarded for their success, not penalized

Never seen something like this before in rugby. I mean it would be as bad as if an European team qualified directly for a World Cup and then Europe is "awarded" by getting one less qualifying place for the next World Cup. Nah, nobody is that bold. Fake news.

How to grow rugby worldwide?Look at the world ranking in July. Teams ranked 1-10 have to play one team from 11-20 (they don't play in a regular competition) away the next year. 11-20 play 21-30 away and so on. Yes, it really is that simple.

Maybe it would be better simply to have 1-match quarter finals and 1-match semifinals instead of home-and-away semfinals. 6 clubs from the Continental Shield group phase (2 groups of 5, to avoid intergroup matches) + the 2 Challenge Cup teams.

Both Challenge Cup teams playing the quarter finals at home against the Shield 3rds (as they deserve a rest from travels). But the winners of those matches play away the semifinals. So they will have to prove away they deserve to stay in the Challenge.

Canalina wrote:The Timisoara roster seems terrifying: we may count five south africans, one briton, four newzealanders, six tongans, three samoans and one fijian, plus some romanian national teams playershttp://rugby-timisoara.ro/jucatori/ro/Jucatori.html

An italian newspaper says the "organizers confirmed that every team will play against the teams of the opposite pool".Anyway I think that this could be just an other rumor, notwithstanding the use of the word "confirmation"

STMKY wrote:Kuban already defeats Krasny Yar, but does not play in the Continental Shield. Nonsense.

I agree - ridiculous that Russia don't get a team playing in this. Come to that why can't Georgia or Romania have more than one when Italy get 4? If they want to stick with this ridiculous two home games and two away games format then they should just have 2 groups of 5

They're very ridiculous. A true, efficacious Continental Shield should have at least 64 teams, 12 of them Russia, six from Moldova and at least two from South America, to conquer the worldwide market. A round robin of 63 games, home and away, could be fine; one or two matches at each round should be played at Twickenham or Stade de France, to attract more interest. All the games on saturday's evening prime time, this is obvious. If only the EPCR organizers weren't so old, selfish people! Fortunately the russian federation is organizing for this season a wonderful parallel european tournament with thirty-two teams, many italian clubs invited. It's a surprise, russian federation worked hard for this and will publish the official communicate in the next few hours

Canalina wrote:They're very ridiculous. A true, efficacious Continental Shield should have at least 64 teams, 12 of them Russia, six from Moldova and at least two from South America, to conquer the worldwide market. A round robin of 63 games, home and away, could be fine; one or two matches at each round should be played at Twickenham or Stade de France, to attract more interest. All the games on saturday's evening prime time, this is obvious. If only the EPCR organizers weren't so old, selfish people! Fortunately the russian federation is organizing for this season a wonderful parallel european tournament with thirty-two teams, many italian clubs invited. It's a surprise, russian federation worked hard for this and will publish the official communicate in the next few hours

Brilliant.But that two Russian teams qualifiy and won't be simply able to do so again (if they don't win the cup that is), is indeed another satire. Never seen in any other serious sport.

How to grow rugby worldwide?Look at the world ranking in July. Teams ranked 1-10 have to play one team from 11-20 (they don't play in a regular competition) away the next year. 11-20 play 21-30 away and so on. Yes, it really is that simple.

The Italian broke through. I will not say who would have taken a place in the 6 Nations, if not for the collapse of the Soviet Union. And just count how many games Zebre and Treviso are conducting in PRO14 each year. And ask yourself why they are still kept in the Celtic League. The Continental Shield is a small fee for the Italians for their participation in the Celtic League, so do not cry. Do you understand logic? That's why Russia holds tournaments, where teams from Finland, Lithuania, Croatia, Azerbaijan come .... It's Russia's payment too. It is impossible to preserve sports, then there will be no development.

I am delighted by your background info on rock-paper-scissors. But not delitghted enough to read through all of it

Until that:

How to grow rugby worldwide?Look at the world ranking in July. Teams ranked 1-10 have to play one team from 11-20 (they don't play in a regular competition) away the next year. 11-20 play 21-30 away and so on. Yes, it really is that simple.